‘A Bachelors is the new high school degree. Soon you will need one to get a job at McDonalds’ – unknown
I remember several years ago that someone told me that. Unfortunately, it has come to pass for archaeology that this is true. Continuing on my examination of the Profiling the Profession data, the last few times I looked at race and sex and this time I want to take a moment to look at the education attainment levels of archaeologists. In the last ten years the number of working Archaeologists with a PhD has nearly doubled. Masters degrees have increased by about 150%. Those with only a school qualification have roughly halved. This is of course of only for the UK but if your bear with me for a moment you will see that it will apply to other countries too.
| 2002-03 | 2007-08 | 2012-2013 | |
| Post-doctoral qualification | Not Asked | 0% | 1% |
| Doctorate (PhD) | 10% | 11% | 19% |
| Postgraduate (Masters) | 21% | 29% | 27% |
| First Degree | 58% | 53% | 47% |
| Foundation degree or HND | Not Asked | 2% | 2% |
| School qualifications | 10% | 4% | 6% |
We are looking at some serious degree inflation in archaeology.
Highest Degree of Archaeologists in UK
Unfortunately, it has now become almost mandatory to have a university degree to be a professional archaeologists. Those who don’t have degrees have, for the most part, been grandfathered in to the profession. Almost no one now starting in archaeology has anything less than a BA/BS or if you go to one of the Ancient Scottish Universities a MA (which is really the same thing just different letters, Oxbridge does something similar for a BA/BS to MA without more work but you need to upgrade later). This has some serious ramifications for future archaeologists and non-archaeologists as well. The first is that you will need a university degree to gain an entry level job in archaeology. Jobs that, let’s face it, have almost nothing to do with what you will learn at most universities. In fact, other than the basic concepts the stratigraphy you will probably use very little of what you were taught. Knowledge of 16th century BC Creatan pottery will not get you a job in archaeology with a BA, maybe ten years later once you have a PhD.
NVQ is Dead
A few years ago there was a push to create a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) for archaeologists. For those unaware, it is similar to an associates degree in the states or a certificate of vocational qualification. It is meant to be a practical, as in hands on and relevant to professional archaeology, route into employment. Actually, it is meant for those already employed to be able to obtain qualifications showing that they are in fact skilled even though they don’t have a degree. Of course because 90% of archaeologists already have at least a BA there is very little market for such a qualification. Moreover, because most of those who don’t have a degree are older and have decades of archaeological experience there is very little incentive to spend money on a qualification when their 20 years of experience will get them a job.
This is not to belittle all the hard work people put into creating such a qualification. In theory it is a great idea- people can earn qualifications for the work they already do and the skills they already have. However, there are some serious generational forces at play that are going to seriously harm both archaeologists and non-archaeologists, degree inflation.
Remember the quote, ‘A Bachelors is the new high school degree. Soon you will need one to get a job at McDonalds’. For those of you reading this of a certain age you will remember when a University degree meant something. For most, is was the entrance to a well paying job and the Middle Class (at least in the US). For, my parents it meant they were the first ones in their family to go to University. For those of you graduating now it means you can now work at Starbucks. Here is a break down of people with a HE degree in the UK by age.
| % of UK labour force with an HE qualification | 1998 | 2003 | 2008 |
| Age | Total | Total | Total |
| 16-19 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 2.1 |
| 20-24 | 23.8 | 23.9 | 25.6 |
| 25-29 | 30.9 | 40.5 | 42.4 |
| 30-34 | 28.8 | 35.4 | 44.6 |
| 35-39 | 28 | 31.6 | 37.5 |
| 40-44 | 29.4 | 30.9 | 34.9 |
| 45-49 | 28.1 | 30.8 | 33.4 |
| 50-54 | 23.7 | 29.7 | 33.4 |
| 55-59 | 19.8 | 24.7 | 31.2 |
I could not get the most recent data because it is behind a pay wall but in 2008 about 45% of 30-34 year olds had a degree. This is of course out the labour (labor) force so it is a bit skewed towards those working. However, looking at the dramatic increase in percentages it would not be out of line to assume that around 50% of 25-35 year olds have a degree now, at least the ones working or trying to find work. Remember that time when you were the only person in your family to have a degree? We are quickly approaching the point were you will be special if you are the only without a degree in your family.
Worldwide Problem
This is not just the UK either. Check out this graph from the US (US gov. public domian)-
It shows several interesting trends. One is that since about the 1970s we, the US, have effectively plateaued with high-school gradation, only increasing a few percentage points in the last few years. At the same time the number of people with a Bachelors degree have continued to increase. The scariest part of this is that a BA now is what a high school diploma was to my grandparents. The same percentage of people have a Bachelors in the US now as had a High School Diploma when my grandparents graduated highs school. Could the same amount of people have PhDs as we now have BA/BS when my grand children graduate, presumably that is their PhD graduation.
Implications for Archaeology and the World
Everyone having a BA means that it becomes the defacto minimum standard of qualification needed to obtain any job. Essentially, ‘must have a high school diploma to clean floors’ now becomes must have a degree. So why would anyone obtain a lesser qualification? Why get an NVQ when you can’t use it to get a job inside archaeology and it won’t help you get a job outside the profession either. We are quickly killing off any qualification that is less than a BA. Considering almost half of archaeologists have an MA we are pretty quickly killing off the BA as well.
Does a BA or MA make you a better archaeologists? Maybe? However, studies show that a scary amount of University Students learn jacksh#% after 4+ years of university work. I have constantly heard complaints from employers about the quality of new graduates. That the newest graduates are not as good as when they came out of University. I always chucked that up to the whole, “back in my day men were men and women were women, we used to walk five miles to school uphill and in the snow, we woke up at the crack of dawn to feed the chickens, and so on” sort of talk. That is every generation complains about the next. However, if universities are becoming the defacto high school,were everyone attends and graduates regardless of ability or aptitude, then maybe they are on to something.
Are we rubber stamping our students with BAs?
Is what use to be an indication of quality now losing its ability to be used as a way to sift through CVs?
Are degrees losing all meaning?
If so, then it means we are condemning our youth to years of busy work, that will not improve their skills, costs an increasing about of money and that will not help them obtain a job any more than a high school diploma. Not only that but we are requiring more and more and more of their time to do this. It might be time to rethink how we are doing things.
A Penny for your thoughts on the subject? Or should I say a degree for your thoughts because like the penny, inflation are making them useless. Serious though, if you have any thoughts on this I would like to hear them.
Doug's Archaeology 
VGC
November 18, 2013
Very interesting read Doug. One minor correction, getting an MA (Hons) at a Scottish University means you have studied for 4 years, whereas at Oxbridge, it means you paid to upgrade from a BA to an MA.
Doug Rocks-Macqueen
November 18, 2013
Ah, yes. I will change the text to reflect that. Cheers
Lisa-Marie Shillito
November 26, 2013
Clarification! I technically have an Oxford ‘MA’, I didn’t pay for it, all it means is that your BA gets designated an MA so many years after graduating. There is a £10 fee if you want to attend a graduation ceremony.
http://www.ox.ac.uk/students/graduation/ceremonies/
I don’t often refer to it as MA though, as people do get confused – I imagine the same happens with Scottish MAs. Oxford also gives BAs for science subjects, just to confuse people further.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Arts_%28Oxbridge_and_Dublin%29
Both are still considered UG degrees as far as I am aware.
an
November 18, 2013
Hi Doug. What I am about to say is true because I have a friend who is a professor at a 2-year community college (will not say where), and this person runs into it all of the time. American business leaders go to higher education administrators with one top thing on their minds: “I need a reliable discriminator. Why can’t anyone give me a reliable discriminator?”
It would be all too easy to delve into that deeply and in detail—and fruitless. I will make it simple for you. What the American businessman is really saying is this:
“My work day starts at 7:00 a.m. I expect all of my employees to be here by that time too. In the old days, my high school dropouts could never get here on time. Then you education people told me to hire only high school graduates because you said anyone responsible enough to get a diploma would also be responsible enough to show up on time. That worked for about 30 years—then my high school diploma people started arriving late in large numbers. Then you education people told me that a person with a 2-year A.A. degree would show up on time. That worked for about 10 years, and now they do not show up on time. Well, several of us gathered around a conference table one morning and decided that we should only hire people with a B.A. or B.S. degree. Surely anyone who worked that hard for 4 years and actually graduated could show up on time. Well, that worked for another 10 years, and now they do not show up on time….”
I know that is simplistic,but it is true. American business is asking the higher education community to provide a “valid discriminator” that will allow them to reliably sort out “responsible people” from “irresponsible people.” That is the baseline common denominator. You can add to that sorting out the “person who can do arithmetic” from “the person who cannot do arithmetic.” They also want to sort out the “person who can write” from the “person who cannot write.”
The real problem here in the United States is not about American business needing people with increasingly and extraordinarily complex, high-level knowledge and skills—thus a need for increasingly higher academic degrees. It is really about two very basic things:
1) A secondary educational system that is failing. For example, the professor I mentioned encounters college sophomores who do not know how to take a simple measurement with a 12-inch ruler. I kid you not. Grade inflation is an enormous problem, and everyone in the class gets a prize when the geography competition ends because no one wants to hurt the feelings of the less proficient students. Everyone gets an A+ just for showing up. You should just hear the complaints from college professors about K-12 schools that are not preparing students properly for college work.
2) We have new generations of young people that do not share the traditional American work ethic—as a group—although there are always individual exceptions. They would rather hang out with their friends than go to work. If the working day starts at 7:00 a.m., they will show up at 10:00 a.m. because it just “feels better for them” and the kind of life they want to lead. Their mantra is: “The whole bloody system must change to accomodate me and my friends.” In particular, I recall one young woman with a college degree in GIS. We had busted our butts to complete a project and get the report shipped out before midnight on a Friday. When that happened, we traditionally worked a couple of hours later on Friday to make sure everything was done proprly and ready to go. Little Miss Generation Y was just outraged that anyone would ask her to stay at work 1 minute beyond 5:00 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. We conveyed the gravity of the situation and our tradition to her in a nice and loving way. Sure enough, when the clock struck 5:00 p.m., she was out the door and gone for the entire evening.
American business is saying, “Well, if Little Miss Generation Y with a B.A. in GIS is going to endanger our work schedules like that, maybe we need to hire only people with an M.A. in GIS.
This is not a problem of diplomas and degrees Doug. It is a cultural problem with the quality of the educational system, businessmen who want reliable discriminators to avoid hiring Little Miss Generation Y, and new generations of young people with personal value systems very different from those of the generations that preceded them.
Paul
November 19, 2013
This isn’t just a problem in the US, it’s equally a problem here in Britain. I’ve been very disappointed with those of my classmates at university who turn up late, or not at all. But as you say, it’s a cultural problem, and it starts well before university level education.
Nina
November 19, 2013
Is this not just a part of the global higher education bubble? There are numerous articles about it in journals. Every nation wants to make their HE statistics better, because under current theories HE increases the national wealth. Basically, I believe that the number of jobs has decreased so much that we do not simply have enough of them and we are trying to postpone young people’s entry into working life.
I find it sad to see that HE bubble is also taking place in China http://english.caixin.com/2013-08-05/100565271.html
Alex
November 19, 2013
Education is always good, and should not be made harder to access because of this inflation. And maybe the new generation cannot use a 12 inch-ruler (inches?! Seems a bit outdated – sorry) however, there is a whole new set of skills and values that people learn at school and that will carry the profession in its new direction. Maybe we should go back to the ‘good old days’, I think not. I love the fact that many people get to have an education (for free I hope_ and although it has less value in the professional world, it does have an enormous value in society. The issue is that purchasing (tuition) HE means that a degree is expected to have a return value in tangible monetary value, it becomes a simple investment in capital and becomes a professional qualification. I thought it was an academic one? More education please, and cheaper. I would not want to face the harsh competitive and undermining world that I read in the comments above. But do not think that it is not competitive today, but hey, maybe we should leave the dumb%sses to fend for themselves…
I feel also that it is wrong that students learn “jack%”t” at UG levels, but maybe they are not learning what they are expected to learn.
dover1952
November 20, 2013
Alex. We do have meter sticks here in the United States. We ship them in by covered wagon about once ever 33 years.
Doug Rocks-Macqueen
November 20, 2013
In theory yes, in practice no. As ‘An’ points out people doing the hiring have turned degrees into a way to weed out applicants and that is the world we live in. Also, Alex your experience will be different than others. Being an EU citizen in Scotland you don’t have to pay for your education so yes to you it is an academic one. However, the vast majority of people have to spend money on education and thus it is a financial commitment. I suggest reading the book I link too. There are problems with it but it found that 45% of students did not improve their critical thinking skills at all. 50% barely and 5% greatly. So for 5% of the students university makes a great difference in critical thinking (which is what everyone goes on about when they talk about education, not practical skills). I didn’t say students didn’t learn anything. I said a scary amount (maybe you can argue the definition of a scary amount, I think 95% qualifies, I actually think 20% is but that is semantics) not all students. Yes, somethings are learned but for the time and, in most people’s cases, money spent it is not worth it. Moreover, education is not just limited to University. How much have you learned on our digs? In an honest assessment have learned something from us? (my feelings won’t be hurt if you say you learned (learnt) nothing ). What about those theory discussions you have at the pub? Did you get an education from them?
Sylvia
November 25, 2013
I think that in the years to come (especially as the upper class and lower class become more divergent) a vast majority of people are not going to be able to afford degrees. Or they are going to hear the horror stories of those trudging through the mud now and living like broke college kids into their 30’s just to pay for that pricey degree, and say “No Thanks!” I work in CRM in the US and I often work on construction sites. The laborers make almost double what I make (not even the equipment operators who make 3 times my salary), and they have no student loans to repay. I think the focus is going to shift more to 2-year technical schools, where you can come out with real job skills and no student loan monkey on your back. I think there is going to be an education bubble, and when it bursts we are going to see a regression in the number of people getting traditional degrees. And as for getting a minium wage job with a Bachelors, HA! Archaeology is a cruel mistress, and often entails seasonal work and lots of unemployment. A few years ago, I tried to get any job during the slow season because I hate doing unemployment, and I couldn’t get a job at Starbucks or Walmart, they would take one look at my degree and think “why would she want to work at Walmart, she is just going to leave as soon as something better comes along” (can’t really blame them either). I actually started leaving my degree off my resume, and only then did I start getting calls and interviews. I had to take a job as a janitor at a retirement home. Who wants to pay thousands of dollars and work their butts off for 4+ years for that? This problem is not specific to Archaeology, but I think it is more apparent.